Deck 14: The Changing Climate

Question 1

Past climate data measured with instruments extends back about

A)30 yrs.
B)200 yrs.
C)100 yrs.
D)500 yrs.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Corals can provide proxy data through the ________ that they extract from seawater while growing.

A)methane
B)carbon dioxide
C)aluminum
D)calcium carbonate

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The part of a plant that is best preserved and can most easily be used for climate reconstruction is:

A)the leaf vein.
B)the pollen.
C)the root structure.
D)the flower.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Proxy data:

A)provide climate data representing times when instruments were not available to measure them.
B)are difficult to find because they occur only in very limited areas.
C)come quality-controlled instrument records.
D)can only extend the temperature record back an additional 500 years.

Question 5

Oxygen-isotope analysis:

A)has been shown to be of little or no use in the study of past climatic changes.
B)makes use of the fact that as temperatures decreases,the amount of ¹⁸O found in precipitation increases.
C)relies on the fact that ¹⁶O evaporates from the ocean more readily than ¹⁸O.
D)is very simple.

Question 6

You find an old tree stump in a forest and would like to use it for tree-ring analysis,but you don't know when the tree was cut down.The best way to establish dates for the analysis is to:

A)compare patterns in the tree rings to ring chronologies sampled from nearby trees on known dates.
B)submit the tree stump to carbon-14 dating analysis.
C)estimate the age of the tree stump based on the level of decay it has experienced.
D)assign small rings to years of known droughts.

Question 7

Oxygen isotope measurements are made from an analysis of:

A)ocean water samples.
B)cores from old trees.
C)ice sheets.
D)packrat middens.

Question 8

The most likely explanation for evidence of glacial activity in places such as Africa and Australia is:

A)global warming.
B)ozone depletion.
C)volcanic activity.
D)oxygen isotope changes.
E)plate tectonics.

Question 9

What is the primary goal of a paleoclimatologist?

A)to prove that climate change caused the dinosaur mass extinction
B)to reconstruct past climates
C)to study the impacts of volcanic eruptions on climate
D)to find explanations for current global climate change

Question 10

Plate tectonics (continental drift):

A)may help us better understand the cause of the Ice Age.
B)is probably responsible for some climatic changes that occur on a time scale of thousands of years.
C)may be a key factor in explaining the cooling trend since the 1940s.

Question 11

The cryosphere consists of

A)ice and snow.
B)rock and soil.
C)plants and animals.
D)air.
E)Antarctica and New Zealand.

Question 12

The length of time that a volcanic eruption impacts the climate is largely determined by:

A)the amount of water evaporated.
B)how much ash is emitted.
C)whether the ash or gas reaches the stratosphere.
D)how much gas is emitted.
E)the explosive force of the eruption.

Question 13

Newly formed glacial ice has ________ ¹⁸O during warm eras and ________ ¹⁸O during cold eras.

A)more;less
B)less;more
C)stable;variable
D)variable;stable

Question 14

Which of the following is NOT a part of the climate system?

A)hydrosphere
B)lithosphere
C)biosphere
D)atmosphere
E)climosphere

Question 15

Oxygen-isotope analysis is used on all of the following sources of proxy data EXCEPT:

A)tree rings.
B)coral reefs.
C)glacial ice.
D)sea floor sediments.

Question 16

Sea floor sediments provide useful climate data because they contain:

A)evidence of plate tectonics.
B)remains of living organisms.
C)material from Earth's mantle.
D)meteorite debris.

Question 17

The climate system consists of the:

A)cryosphere.
B)atmosphere.
C)hydrosphere.
D)just the cryosphere and atmosphere.
E)the cryosphere,atmosphere,hydrosphere,biosphere,and solid Earth.

Question 18

Volcanic eruptions can act as agents for climate change since they:

A)increase the numbers of cyclones.
B)increase the amount of evaporation.
C)cause small changes in the earth's tilt.
D)reduce the solar energy at Earth's surface.
E)release large amounts of heat.

Question 19

Oxygen isotope analysis measures the:

A)oxygen content of sediment.
B)rate of oxygen depletion.
C)amount of radioactivity due to oxygen.
D)total oxygen present.
E)proportion of 2 different types of oxygen atoms.

Question 20

What property of glacial ice helps climatologists to reconstruct the CO₂ concentrations of the atmosphere during the past?

A)The ratio of oxygen isotopes in the ice.
B)The contents of the air bubbles trapped in the ice.
C)The amount of volcanic ash frozen in the ice.
D)The amount of ¹⁶O in the water.

Question 21

Sunspot activity tends to follow a cycle of roughly:

A)500 years.
B)100 years.
C)30 years.
D)11 years.
E)26,000 years.

Question 22

The large plates that make up the outer portion of the earth move approximately a few ________ per year.

A)micrometers
B)millimeters
C)centimeters
D)kilometers
E)meters

Question 23

The Milankovitch cycles cannot entirely explain recent global warming trends because:

A)they operate on a very long time scale and cannot address shorter term cycles.
B)they were disproved in the 1980s.
C)they address cycles in precipitation only.
D)no data have been found to support their influence on Earth's climate.

Question 24

If a volcanic eruption produces a climate impact that lasts for a year or longer,the most likely culprit is:

A)ash suspended in the atmosphere.
B)the state of the climate at the time of the eruption.
C)aerosols produced by sulfur dioxide emitted from the volcano.
D)a high volume of debris ejected during the eruption.

Question 25

What was the name of the volcano that erupted in 1991 in the Phillipines?

A)Tambora
B)Pinatubo
C)El Chichon
D)Mt.St.Helens

Question 26

The volcano that caused "the year without a summer" was:

A)Fuji.
B)Mt.St.Helens.
C)Tambora.
D)Krakatoa.
E)Mt.Pinatubo.

Question 27

Requirements for an ice age on Earth include:

A)smaller obliquity angle.
B)a weaker Sun.
C)larger obliquity angle.
D)continents located at high latitudes.
E)continents located at low latitudes.

Question 28

Astronomical causes of climate change occur with cycles of:

A)1 - 5 million yrs.
B)20,000 yrs.
C)450,000 yrs.
D)100 million yrs.
E)26,000 - 100,000 yrs.

Question 29

Which of the following is NOT associated with the astronomical theory of climate change?

A)precession
B)eccentricity
C)obliquity
D)lunar phases

Question 30

Which association is NOT correct?

A)obliquity - 41,000 years
B)eccentricity - 100,000 years
C)precession - 13,000 years

Question 31

Which one of the following statements is not related to the astronomical theory of climatic change?

A)variations in the shape of the earth's orbit
B)changes in the angle that the earth's axis makes with the plane of the ecliptic
C)wobbling of the earth's axis
D)variations in solar output
E)distance variations between the earth and the Sun

Question 32

The person who first developed and strongly advocated the astronomical theory was:

A)Thomas Schmidlin.
B)Randall Cerveny.
C)Stanley Changnon.
D)Edward Tarbuck.
E)Milutin Milankovitch.

Question 33

At what star does the North Pole point at the opposite extreme from its current position?

A)Polaris
B)Alpha Centuri
C)Milky Way
D)Vega

Question 34

Variations in the shape of the earth's orbit:

A)have a cycle of about three million years.
B)have a cycle of about 100,000 years.
C)will eventually lead to the earth having a perfectly circular orbit.
D)are related to changes in sunspot activity on the surface of the Sun.

Question 35

If the tilt of the earth's axis changes,how does this affect the temperature change across the seasons?

A)no consistent relation exists
B)more tilt,smaller seasonal change
C)less tilt,smaller seasonal change
D)less tilt,larger seasonal change

Question 36

When did the supercontinent Pangaea exist?

A)1 billion years ago
B)4)2 billion years ago
C)300 million years ago
D)100,000 years ago

Question 37

We have not yet established the impact of solar variability on the Earth's climate system because:

A)we have no way of measuring solar variability directly.
B)satellites have not yet been around long enough to provide a data set of adequate length.
C)most scientists now agree that solar output is constant and does not vary.
D)it is not a legitimate enough theory to gain much attention from the scientific community.

Question 38

What is the current axial tilt of the earth?

A)23.5 degrees
B)21.5 degrees
C)24 degrees
D)45 degrees

Question 39

The eccentricity portion of Milankovitch's astronomical theory refers to:

A)changes in the tilt of Earth's axis.
B)the unpredictability of Earth's weather.
C)changes in the rate of Earth's rotation.
D)variations in the energy emitted by the Sun.
E)changes in the shape of Earth's orbit.

Question 40

Compared to climate changes due to plate tectonics and astronomical causes,the changes due to volcanic eruptions are:

A)very short.
B)much larger.
C)longer.
D)of equal duration.

Question 41

Extensive tree ring research indicates that the 22-year sunspot cycle may be related to:

A)warm periods in northern Europe.
B)rainy episodes in North Africa.
C)drought in the western United States.
D)El Niño.

Question 42

In what way were humans influencing climate prior to the Industrial Revolution?

A)gathering wood for individual cooking fires
B)releasing CO₂ by burning large quantities of coal
C)hunting and gathering excessively
D)alteration of ground cover for grazing and agriculture

Question 43

The atmosphere's CO₂ content is rising.Which one of the following is a significant contributor to this increase?

A)refrigerant leakage
B)rice paddies
C)deforestation
D)aerosol spray cans

Question 44

Warming temperatures melt ice cover,exposing a darker surface that absorbs more solar radiation.In response,the air warms even further.This is an example of:

A)a stable-feedback mechanism.
B)a negative feedback mechanism.
C)a positive feedback mechanism.
D)a variable-feedback mechanism.

Question 45

Why are the climate forecasts of GCMs not to be fully trusted?

A)The physics involved are still not fully understood.
B)Underlying assumptions influence the outcome and may not be totally accurate.
C)Researchers often tweak the outcome to match political agendas.
D)They are still not capable of simulating anything but air temperature.

Question 46

The term anaerobic means:

A)highly acidic.
B)without air (or oxygen).
C)without motion.
D)under extreme pressure.

Question 47

The combustion of coal and oil is a major source of which greenhouse gas?

A)ozone
B)carbon dioxide
C)CFCs
D)methane

Question 48

Sulfur dioxide aerosols:

A)lower cloud albedo.
B)are rarely emitted during volcanic eruptions.
C)can serve as condensation nuclei.
D)do not exist in reality.

Question 49

Which of these is the most important cause of the increase in atmospheric CO₂?

A)decaying vegetation
B)burning of coal and petroleum
C)wetlands and swamps
D)cattle
E)deforestation

Question 50

Which of the following is NOT a greenhouse gas?

A)methane
B)CFCs
C)water vapor
D)argon
E)carbon dioxide

Question 51

Which of the following is a possible consequence of a greenhouse warming?

A)sea-level rise
B)increase in sea ice
C)a decrease in global mean precipitation
D)lower frequency of hurricanes

Question 52

Studies have shown that the sea level:

A)has lowered about 10 centimeters over the last 100 years.
B)should drop over the next 100 years.
C)should not change significantly over the next 100 years.
D)has risen at least 10 centimeters over the last 100 years.
E)has not changed measurably over the last 100 years.

Question 53

Which regions on Earth have displayed the greatest temperature anomalies in 2010 (based on the 1951-1980 average)?

A)the oceans
B)the subtropics
C)the high latitudes
D)All regions have warmed equally.

Question 54

Which of the following is a greenhouse gas?

A)carbon
B)carbon monoxide
C)oxygen
D)nitrous oxide

Question 55

Which of the following gases may be contributing to a greenhouse warming?

A)hydrogen
B)methane
C)nitrogen
D)oxygen
E)carbon monoxide

Question 56

Measured variations in the Sun's emission of radiation and observed changes in the earth's climate:

A)have not been clearly linked.
B)happen on an 11-year cycle.
C)happen on a 22-year cycle.
D)are well understood.

Question 57

A major part of the greenhouse effect is that it involves the absorption of the earth's outgoing radiation by atmospheric gases.What component is most important in this absorption?

A)oxygen
B)nitrogen
C)carbon dioxide
D)water vapor

Question 58

It is likely that an increase in global temperature would result in an increase in cloud cover.Which of the following statements BEST describes the total impact of additional clouds on the Earth system?

A)Clouds provide an exclusively negative-feedback response to warming.
B)Clouds provide an exclusively positive-feedback response to warming.
C)Clouds provide both positive-feedback and negative-feedback responses to warming.
D)Clouds provide neither positive-feedback nor negative feedback responses to warming.

Question 59

The acronym GCM stands for:

A)general circulation model.
B)global climate model.
C)greater circulation mode.
D)general climatological map.

Question 60

Methane is naturally produced by bacteria in ________ environments.

A)anaerobic
B)high pressure
C)very cold
D)isotopic

Question 61

The tilt of the earth's axis varies between 22.1 and 28.5 degrees.

Question 62

Which of the following is NOT a project effect of global warming for the coming century?

A)a decrease in the areas affected by drought
B)increased risk of landslides and mudslides
C)increased risk of avalanches
D)increase in intense hurricane activity

Question 63

According to glacial ice records,the Earth was significantly cooler between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago than it is today.

Question 64

The continents have been in the exact same locations since the earth began.

Question 65

Since the late 1800s,the mean global temperature has risen by about 0.6°C.

Question 66

Studies of ocean-floor sediments are of little use when studying long-term climate change.

Question 67

Recent studies indicate that the impact on climate of a great explosive volcanic eruption can last for decades.

Question 68

Long-term climate change evidence is in reasonable agreement with predictions from the astronomical theory.

Question 69

El Chichon appears to have had a greater impact on atmospheric temperatures than did Mount St.Helens.

Question 70

Studies of past climates have shown that climate has varied only on time scales of tens of thousands to millions of years.

Question 71

There is insufficient data to determine with a strong degree of certainty that solar variability affects climate.

Question 72

The smallest temperature increases due to global warming are expected in the middle latitudes.

Question 73

It is believed that the temperature rise caused by increased atmospheric carbon dioxide will be greater in the tropics than in the polar regions.

Question 74

Recent studies based on the analysis of sea-floor sediments tend to support the astronomical theory.

Question 75

Carbon dioxide gas is a strong absorber of solar radiation.

Question 76

Carbon dioxide is released to the atmosphere as vegetation decays.

Question 77

During periods when glaciers are extensive,the concentration of ¹⁸O in seawater increases.

Question 78

The best way to estimate the cooling effect of a volcanic eruption is by estimating the volume of material ejected.

Question 79

In addition to sea level rise,oceans respond to increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by:

A)contracting in volume.
B)increasing salinity.
C)becoming increasingly acidic.
D)becoming more alkaline.

Question 80

When glaciers are growing larger,the concentration of the heavier oxygen isotope in sea water increases.